José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's office in Madrid's Moncloa Palace has an almost Zen-like atmosphere  bright and spare, with cool grey walls and stainless-steel furniture. And there's something Zen-like about Zapatero himself. The Spanish Prime Minister with the beatific smile says his role is not to shape public opinion but to follow it. "I don't want to be a great leader; I want to be a good democrat," he said in an interview with TIME last week. "I accept that when an overwhelming majority of citizens says something, they are right."